The two well-equipped mechanized corps of the Transcaucasian Military District of the Soviet Union, equipped with more than 400 large-caliber artillery pieces and more than 500 tanks, fought for more than 10 hours, but they were unable to penetrate the second-rate troops of the independent division and the troops of the Outer Mongolian border guards in the second line of attack in Checherleg, which made the commander of the military district, General Kurykin, extremely annoyed, and did not hesitate to threaten to kill the commander of the Fifth Army, Major General Kuryakov, and the commander of the Ninth Army, Major General Aslanov.

In fact, what General Kurygin was most worried about in his heart was not these, he was most afraid of the Checherleg breakthrough battle, a stalemate battle like the Battle of the Sejingge River, and an entanglement would take seven or eight days.

As long as the troops of the Outer Mongolian border guards of the independent division blocked themselves in Checherleg for three days, not counting the two days needed to approach Kulen, at the end of September, the deadline given by the leader to the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District was exceeded, and there was no need for the Chinese to kill themselves, and Comrade Stalin would have asked for his own head.

Of course, the campaign to recover Outer Mongolia will not stop because he was beheaded by Comrade Stalin, and the Soviet Red Army will not lack high-ranking generals, and the General Staff will be able to command the troops to continue the fight if they send one over at will.

And he has become a tragic figure with a charge, all the efforts and dedication in the early stage, no one will remember, the leader and the Soviet people, will only remember the commander who conquered Kulen, the anxious General Kulygin, eager to go into battle shirtless in person, if the battle of Checherleg is fought into the battle of the Gulge River, he will definitely not survive, it is better to let the bullets of the soldiers of the independent division kill himself, and he can still make a martyr!

Under pressure from General Kurygin, the commander of the 5th Mechanized Corps of the Transcaucasian Military District of the USSR, Major General Kuryakov. Major General Aslanov, commander of the Mechanized Corps of the Ninth Army, was red-eyed, commanded the troops, and stormed the positions defended by the three mechanized brigades of the East Finger and the three mechanized brigades of the Corps directly under the command of Yang Ketian.

At night, artillery shells continued to fall on the positions of the troops of the independent division like meteors flying in the sky. Bullets flew like locusts, stirring the air, and there was a whistling sound of a typhoon, the attack of the Soviet army. There are no rules anymore, and it is completely a heap of people. Two armies of seventy or eighty thousand horses. Unleash an uninterrupted assault, like the sea at high tide, this wave falls, and waves rise and fall.

Yang Ketian's pressure increased suddenly, and he called the battle headquarters and spoke directly to the division commander Tang Qiuli: "Division commander. The Soviet army fought hard, learned from the little devils, and started a group charge, and the pressure on the forward positions was too great. I asked the division's artillery group to provide artillery support, interrupt the offensive momentum of the Soviet army, let the troops take a breath, replenish ammunition, and carry down the wounded! ”

Tang Qiu was unmoved, and replied in a stern tone: "Yang Ketian, don't complain to me, your troops have not yet reached the point where they can't hold on, the rear guard of the Soviet army has not all entered the ambush circle, and we can't expose our intentions in advance, it's 4:50 in the morning, and we have another forty minutes to block the attack, if you think you can't complete the task, I can take over your command!" With a strength of nearly 100,000 troops, it can't withstand the attack of 70,000 or 80,000 Soviet troops? ”

In fact, Tang Qiuli also knew how great the pressure on the front-line troops was, on the phone, you could hear the sound of gunfire like the wind, and the explosion of artillery shells, far and near, Yang Ketian's command was like this, and in the face of the front-line troops of the Soviet army, what should it be, the soldiers withstood the dense artillery fire of the Soviet artillery with very little artillery support, and repelled more than a dozen attacks of the Soviet army with infantry weapons.

Yang Ketian stomped his feet and shouted loudly: "Division commander, I will retract what I just said, assault the group head-on, ensure the completion of the task, block the Soviet army for an hour, and not let a single Soviet soldier cross the Checherleg defense line, I will go to the forward position!" ”

Putting down the phone, Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe hesitated and said: "Division commander, the Soviet army is eager to open up the road to Kulen, the pressure on the forward troops is huge, launching a campaign in advance will not have much impact on the overall situation, most of the Soviet rearguard troops who have not entered the ambush circle are logistics and baggage, even if they are not surrounded, they will not become much of a climate, if the blocking time is too long, the casualties of the troops will increase a lot, I will start to counterattack immediately!" ”

Tang Qiuli shook his head and said, "Yuhe, our strength is almost equal to that of the Soviet army, Sun Tzu said in the Art of War, ten times the encirclement, I used more than 200,000 people to encircle the Soviet army of more than 200,000 people, I was already reluctant, and the use of troops was to the limit, why didn't I adopt the tactics of encircling on all sides, just because the troops were not enough, I had to let go of the opening in the north, and let Liu Chun's cavalry troops plug the mouth, it was also a last resort!"

"Yuhe, you know, the cavalry unit is not suitable for positional warfare, but I have no other troops available, and the area from Hagen Gaole to Baiyin Chagan is more than 60 kilometers long from north to south and more than 20 kilometers wide from east to west, the battlefield space is so huge, the thickness of the encircled troops is very small, and there is no depth of battle, the stuffing is big and thin, and if you are not careful, the Soviet army will break out of the encirclement, and a melee will come down, and the outcome of the battle situation is very unpredictable!"

"At that time, the plan to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Soviet army will fall through, and if Stalin is not hurt and does not dare to use the brains of Outer Mongolia again, it will affect the strategic pattern of Outer Mongolia in the future, and when we go all out to deal with the Japanese Kwantung Army, it is difficult to guarantee that Stalin will not stab him in the back."

"Now, the frontal blocking troops, although there is pressure, but this is also the best time to consume the Soviet army's vital forces, our army relies on fortifications to defend, the Soviet army is the main attack, the casualties will definitely exceed us several times, if before the campaign is launched, the two main forces of Kulygin are disabled, it will fundamentally change the ratio of forces between the enemy and us, and weaken the Soviet army in terms of morale, which is extremely beneficial to the next campaign plan!"

Zhao Yuhe and Mo Ran, Tang Qiuli said to him with a smile: "Don't look at Yang Ketian's bitterness, in fact, it is far from the danger of being broken through by the Soviet army, he is used to fighting battles supported by powerful artillery fire, and seeing that I have a few artillery brigades and tank brigades in my hands, I feel uncomfortable and unaccustomed!" ”

Zhao Yuhe smiled, it was really as the division commander said, since entering the pass to fight against the Japanese army, the independent division troops have fought in large corps, and that time it was not several times or even more than ten times more firepower than the Japanese army, on the ground, artillery fire roared, tanks roared, and in the sky, fighter planes roared, why didn't you miss these, let alone Yang Ketian, even I was not used to it.

At about 5 o'clock in the morning of 28 September, Yang Ketian's frontal assault group fought with the two mechanized corps of the Soviet army for more than eight hours.

As soon as the crazy momentum passed, the morale of the Soviet army gradually declined, Major General Kuryakov and Major General Aslanov could no longer take out a complete regiment for a ferocious offensive, two elite mechanized corps more than 20 regiments, two tank brigades took turns to fight, each attack, they threw a large pile of corpses, and brought back countless wounded soldiers who were missing hands and feet, wailing in pain, were basically disabled, and the casualties exceeded one-third.

Yang Ketian's phone called the division commander again, "Division commander, the Soviet army can't move, in front of the position, there are corpses, the density and intensity of the attack have weakened a lot, the casualties of the troops are not large, I assure you, without artillery and tank support, let alone blocking for forty minutes, even two hours will not be a problem!" ”

Tang Qiuli smiled slightly and said, "Don't complain about the hardships? It's almost time, order the troops, prepare for a counterattack! ”

At this time, Chief of Staff Wang Jun hurriedly came in and said with a happy face: "Division commander, I received a report from the reconnaissance unit that all the rear guard units of the Soviet army have entered the ambush circle of our army!" ”

Tang Qiuli looked at his watch, at 5:40 a.m. on September 28, about ten minutes later than originally planned, he said to Zhao Yuhe and Wang Jun: "Order the troops, launch a counterattack on all fronts!" ”

Dozens of telephones and radios, which quickly sent orders down to the individual troops.

Major General Zheng Yong, the commander of the artillery of the Independent Division, was anxiously turning around in the command headquarters, looking at the hour hand of his watch, after 5:30, the phone that several staff officers were staring at directly with the division headquarters still did not move, Zheng Yong's hand stretched out to the phone several times, and then retracted, and kept muttering, "What's the matter?" What the hell is going on? Why hasn't the division commander given the order, I'm almost dying! ”

"Jingle bell!" The phone rang suddenly, which startled Zheng Yong, he grabbed in front of the staff officer, grabbed the phone, and without waiting for the other party to finish speaking, he turned his head and said to the staff officer: "Order the artillery group, immediately shell the Soviet artillery positions, rocket artillery regiments, shell the Soviet infantry, self-propelled artillery regiments, shell the depth of the Soviet army, tell the commanders of each artillery group, I ask for all-round coverage of artillery fire!" ”

The assembly place of the armored troops of the independent division, the commander Major General Battle, sat in the armored command car, his face seemed to be calm, but in fact he was extremely anxious, and he kept looking at his watch, around him, there were four tank brigades ready to go, more than 1,000 tanks, the sound of the motor was deafening, and the sound was loud, as long as an order was given, the ironclad torrent would rush towards the Soviet army like a raging tide.

"Report! Commander, the division commander ordered our armored troops to immediately launch a surprise attack on the Soviet troops in front of them! A staff officer reported aloud.

Battle's thick eyebrows were raised, and he said succinctly: "Order the troops to attack at full speed!" ”

At 5:40 a.m. on 28 September, the assault on the Soviet army began with an independent division of more than 200,000 troops commanded by Tang Qiuli!

(To be continued)(To be continued......